- By:
- Hamilton, Steven P; Clarno, Kevin T; Berrill, Mark A; Evans, Thomas M; Lefebvre, Robert A; Sampath, Rahul S; Davidson, Gregory G; Hansel, J; Ragusa, J; Josey, Colin
- Publication Date:
- August 20, 2013
- Conference Name:
- International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2013)
- Conference Location:
- Sun Valley, Idaho, United States of America
Abstract
Accurate prediction of the neutron and temperature distributions within an operating nuclear reactor requires the solution of multiple coupled physics equations. In a light water reactor (LWR), there is a very strong coupling between the power distribution (governed by the radiation transport equation) and the temperature and density distributions (governed by a thermal diusion equation in combination with a fluid flow model). This study aims to begin to quantify the impact of such feedback mechanisms as well as identify numerical diculties associated with such multiphysics problems. A description of the multiphysics model and current solution strategy within the Exnihilo code package will be presented, along with numerical results for a representative 3 3 PWR ‘mini-assembly.’
